From 303 to 311AD the Roman emperor Diocletian tried to wipe out all Christianity and their written scriptures. By 311, Galerius could no longer stomach the attack on the church, and along with Constantine and Licinius he issued the Edict of Toleration, ending the Great Persecution. In 312, Constantine marched on Rome to take part of the Roman empire, and he and Licinius became co-emperors. In 313 Constantine and Licinius added their Edict of Milan which restored privileges and property to Christians.
By 318 Christianity was coming back. The religion was becoming more formal, churches were more organized, and there were more rules restricting Christian behavior within the church. You can see where this was going, it was a slow power grab, a common tactic for the dark forces.
Sharp-tongued Arius had some words with Alexander of Alexandria, and they disagreed, and Arius was excommunicated. Arius then went to take his message to the common people like sailors, millers, and travelers. Arius was a natural salesman and his Arian message began to spread.
In 320 civil war broke out in the Roman empire when Licinius ignored the Edict of Milan and began persecution of Christians again. During the civil war, Arius and his friend Eusebius sought to divide the church.
In 325AD Constantine invited about 300 bishops to a city easily accessible to all to talk about the church problems, Nicea in modern Turkey, east of Constantinople. They began to work on a series of rules, and the foundation was the rules of Caesarea. A priest named Arius said Jesus was not an eternal being but that he was created by God. Bishops such as Alexander and Athanasius argued the opposite.
Constantine said a majority vote would determine official doctrine of the Christian church. The idea of Arius was rejected, the vote said Jesus was an eternal being. This results of this meeting in Nicea became the Nicene Creed. Thus the vote said that Jesus was co-equal with God and should be worshiped like God.
When was the ancestor of today’s Bible assembled?
From “What are the earliest versions and translations of the bible?” https://www.bibleodyssey.org/tools/bible-basics/what-are-the-earliest-versions-and-translations-of-the-bible.aspx
40-80AD. Sources of the New Testament written.
1st century AD. In the 2nd century just the Torah was translated to Greek.
2nd century AD. Rest of the Hebrew bible is translated to Greek. Tatian also harmonized all 4 gospels so they would no longer conflict with each other.
3rd century AD. Latin Bible translation appears, as well as the Coptic version of the Bible.
4th century AD. Official lists of Christian books appear. The lists showed books which were in or out of canon. By the end of the 4th century there was general agreement on which books were widely accepted.
5th century AD. Armenian translation created.
500-700CE. Masoretic text was written in Hebrew which did not use vowels until the Middle Ages. The MT was also the basis of the Old Testament.
1009CE. The Leningrad Codex goes back to 1009CE. At the time it was claimed it was one of the most well-known versions of the bible.
From “Origins of the Written Bible” https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/origins-written-bible/
Latin Vulgate bible
From https://safeguardyoursoul.com/the-new-versions-are-vatican-corrupted-and-controlled-bibles/
100-199AD. Latin Bible created by Vaudois who lived in the Alps. This version reached England by 200AD.
405AD. Latin Vulgate bible finished. The source says this version of the bible leaves out many words, phrases, and whole sentences which changes the meaning of things.
500-1500AD. During the Dark Ages 500-1500 AD, Satan used the Roman Catholic Church to kill millions of Christians for using the true Bible, and they burned the bibles.
1380-1382. John Wycliffe’s Translation (1380-82) was the first manuscript (hand-written) Bible in the English language. 21 years after he died, the RCC (Roman Catholic Church) dug him up, tried him for heresy, found guilty, they burned his ashes.
1534. In 1534 John Calvin helped it get translated into French.
Conclusion
I started out wondering if the modern bible was assembled in the 4th century, which some claimed. That pointed to the Council of Nicea in 325. I did find evidence that the Catholic church is behind a corrupted version of the bible. Judge for yourself.
Sources
- The Great Persecution. https://www.christian-history.org/diocletian.html
- The Council of Nicea. https://www.christian-history.org/council-of-nicea.html
- Council of Nicea. https://www.gotquestions.org/council-of-Nicea.html
- What are the earliest versions and translations of the bible? https://www.bibleodyssey.org/tools/bible-basics/what-are-the-earliest-versions-and-translations-of-the-bible.aspx
